


Snow Cherries From France

by vivaforever597



Series: Tales of a Librarian [3]
Category: Beauty and the Beast (1991), Disney Princesses
Genre: Christmas, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-25
Updated: 2016-12-25
Packaged: 2018-09-12 03:24:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 405
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9053203
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/vivaforever597/pseuds/vivaforever597
Summary: At Christmas, maybe there's not more than this provincial life.





	

**Author's Note:**

> [ _And when I promised my hand, he promised me back snow cherries from France._ ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yMz3RIrmqB8)
> 
> This song title's been rattling around in my brain (because of the obvious "France" connection) ever since I established the Tales of a Librarian pseudo-series, but I've never managed to write it till now. Originally I was going to have the cherry trees on the castle grounds, but then this occurred to me...
> 
> Set during The Enchanted Christmas.

Beast leaned a bit nearer to Belle, narrowing his eyes as he stared at hers, trying to peer right through them. She met his gaze and smiled, a bit bashfully for some reason. "What is it?" she asked.

"You... are you having a good Christmas? It's all right?" Beast asked.

Belle laughed. "I'm having a marvelous Christmas," she assured him. "Why do you ask?"

He stared down at his plate, feeling suddenly bashful himself. "You looked sad." He gripped his fork carefully and pushed at his meat. "I don't want you to be sad at Christmas."

Belle smiled warmly. "No, it's not that," she reassured him, and placed her hand on his paw. "There are just some things I'm used to at Christmas, that's all." _Like my father_ , she thought, the bitterness eating into her contentment. But she decided that discretion was the better part of valor.

"Like what?" Beast exclaimed, his tone angry. But it wasn't anger, Belle thought, so much as confusion. "We're eating like kings. Your decorations are beautiful," he admitted gruffly. "What else could you want?" _Her father_ , said a voice in his head. But he ignored it.

"Well," Belle began, getting the dreamy look in her eye that usually only came from a book she was especially fond of, "you know Papa never had much money, so our Christmas dinners weren't the biggest, but there was a tree near our house that would give us cherries just before Christmas."

Beast eyed her skeptically. "Cherries in winter?" he repeated.

"Scientifically, that's impossible," Cogsworth said airily as he waddled down the table. "Stone fruits such as cherries require — _ouch!"_

Lumière lifted his arm from Cogsworth's backside. "You were saying, chérie?" he prompted.

Belle giggled. "Well, it should be impossible," she acknowledged. "But nonetheless, every year we picked those cherries and had them with our Christmas dinners. And they were the best cherries you could ever taste. So sweet and cold and crisp." She smiled to herself.

"Are there... other trees like that?" Beast asked, trying to sound casual.

"I think so. I'm pretty sure I've seen a few trees in the village with cherries in the winter."

 _The village_... That was part of his domain, even if the villagers didn't know it.

He was beginning to enjoy Christmas in spite of himself, thanks to Belle. If these snow cherries would make her happy, then next Christmas...

Next Christmas, they would be hers.

**Author's Note:**

> To be honest I've never really understood what Snow Cherries From France is supposed to mean, aside from the story it tells on the literal level about a childhood love, so I looked up Tori Amos' commentary, and this seems relevant to Belle and Beast, and in fact the aspect of Beast that I was trying to subvert a little here:
> 
> "He's a restless soul, and she knows what she's getting into. He really doesn't promise her anything, except for snow cherries from France. But she's offering him her hand - that's what _she_ promised." ([source](http://www.unforumzed.com/showthread.php?1772-Song-of-the-Week-Snow-Cherries-from-France))
> 
> This one was what led me to add the "scientifically impossible" bit:
> 
> "She offers her hand, after a fashion, and he offers her snow cherries from France, which sound delicious, but don't exist." ([source](http://www.yessaid.com/lyrics/2003talesofalibrarian/snowcherriesfromfrance.html))


End file.
